Thursday.

Here’s a post well worth the read. Don’t just read it though, pray and meditate on the scriptures so as to allow them to transform our lives together.

Happy belated Birthday Canada. Last night Christina, Katelyn and I watched ‘One Week’ which is essentially an ode to all things Candiana. Great soundtrack and landscape.

Finally, some candy for your ears:

Over The Hills and Far Away.

The Rain Song.

Star Spangled Banner courtesy of Jimi.

Stuff.

Madoff gets 150 years. Greed runs through us all.

Shaq to the Cavs and Carter to the Magic? Crazy.

Some of you know that we’ve been waiting on some government cheese for the last couple months (EI). Well it finally went through, now we can pay some rent. Yeah!

I’ve lost an entire layer of skin since coming back from South Carolina, dang.

Christina and I are settling into our new neighbourhood more and more. Yesterday was the big Pride Parade so it was pretty cool to see so many people out and about. The parade wasn’t as lewd as I thought it might be which was a nice surprise. Also, kudos to the city of Toronto. Yonge Street was an absolute mess last evening. Garbage just everywhere. However, the city had folks out working throughout the night and this morning Yonge was spotless. Nice.

I’m heading over to Europe from August 1-22. I need to raise some funds so I’ll be posting a seperate write up on that with more info for anyone that might want to help me out with that.

Whelp, time to jump on that bike and do some more exploring. Oh, also, Christina is getting loads of shifts at her job and had an interview last week for a full time position, so we’re hoping that works out for her!

Recent goings-on.

Christina and I, along with a couple other friends, just got back from South Carolina. We were originally headed for Virginia Beach but due to bad weather we made a last minute adjustment to our route and headed a little further south. I drove directly there, through the night, all 15 hours. The surprising thing was, I wasn’t even tired. Anyways, we camped out in Myrtle Beach so that was pretty fun. The beach was nice, however it was a little hot for my liking. In triple diget heat, even sunscreen doesn’t work! The highlight for me was surfing. On the Saturday morning we headed to a little town south of Myrtle Beach called Garden City and found a dope little surf shop where we got connected with a lesson. The waves were only 2-3 feet but it was fun to learn none-the-less.

We’re also starting to get a little more connected in various communities here in the city. We hung out with some people our age from church last night, so it was cool to meet some more people. Also, I’m hoping to get involved in another community close by, more on that later.

It’s Pride Week here in Toronto. It’s something I used to always hear about from the suburbs but living on the outskirts of the homosexual community here in the city provides a different perspective. We’re looking forward to hanging out during the big parade on Sunday and meeting new people. There’s something about the parade that makes me feel uncomfortable, to be honest. I’ve always seen the parade as scantily clad men squirting people with water guns. Maybe that’s generalization but I’m being honest, and generally, that’s what I’ve seen on news splices. I’m hoping that being there this year will change my perspective. I also feel like, because of our proximity, I’d like to be more connected with the homosexual community here in the city, so hopefully we make some new friends.

That’s about all for now. I haven’t written much in the way of theology lately, maybe that’s because we’ve been too busy trying to discover our new community. Oh, and we’ve been watching lot’s of Lost lately, we’re about midway through season 3. Good stuff. John just blew up the submarine, that was cool. I still don’t really know what’s up with the others yet, or that black smoke monster, whatever it is. So many questions!

PEACE!

This and that.

I’m currently sitting in a small locally-owned coffee shop on George St. in Peterborough. We arrived here yesterday because Christina is taking a non-violent restraint course @ the local college. I’ve been to Peterborough once before, and that was for a basketball game, so I didn’t see much of the city. Peterborough is pretty dang sweet though. George St. is a tight little place littered with local shops and restaurants. Last night Christina and I had a pint in a place called Hot Belly Mama’s. They brew 4 or 5 of their own beers on site. I had a pint of their Seasonal Ale and their dark ale that is named after Oscar Wilde. Both were delicious. Between all of the local enterprise, the community feel and the proximity to the Trent-Severn waterway, Peterborough strikes me as a pretty sweet place to reside (plus, as I drove past the GE headquarters I was pretty sure I recognized it from Tommy Boy; I believe it was the scene for Big Tom’s factory).

Recently I’ve taken up running again. I used to play soccer when I was a bit younger and because of that I developed a pretty decent stamina that got me into running. Anyways, it’s been a while since I was anything of a committed runner, but I went for a run the other day and discovered that apparently you can loose your fitness (I went out for a 3.8 km* run, and found that I only lasted about 3km before I was ready to K.O.). It also looks like I’m going to be heading out to Prague/Paris/Lille again this August. It doesn’t look like Christina is going to be able to make which sucks, but distance makes the heart grow fonder, isn’t that what they say? We’re going on a little road trip this coming week. We’re driving down to Virginia Beach with Kate and Jordan for a little camping/surfing extravaganza. We’re camping out at First Landing State Park and Jordan and I will both be trying to learn how to surf for the first time. Just a couple days on the beach! Hmm, what else is new? I started reading Chesterton’s ‘Orthodoxy’ the other day and am seeing what I’ve been missing. One of my favourite quotes thus far is “I did try to found a heresy of my own; and when I had put the last touches to it, I discovered that it was orthodoxy.” Christina has been applying to a bunch of job opportunities and is hoping to score something full-time in the near future. Also, one more note about personal accomplishments, we’ve really only used the car thus far for Christina to get to work in Newmarket. We’ve been walking everywhere (I’ve also been biking). We haven’t even had to use the TTC yet, crazy. Oh, one more thing, on Thursday night I saw the fastest man in the world run the 100m live! I peeked through the fence instead of paying the $150 for a ticket.

Anyways, that aside, here’s a bunch of stuff I found online that I thought was interesting:

Humingbirds are faster than jets.

Banksy is so dope. His story is pretty cool rising from being a graffiti artist on the streets of Bristol and being chased by the cops and city council to taking over the Bristol museum! Here’s the video.

Congrat’s English!

Hooliganism and keepin’ it in the fam.

Whelp, see ya.

*Thanks to mapmyrun.com!

On post-internet living.

The internet hasn’t always been around, you know that right? There was, believe it or not, at one point in time, no such thing existing as this “internet”. What the hell did everyone do? No online poker. No internet dating. No internet shopping. No games. Wow. People must have had to actually play poker, actually date, actually shop, and actually play games. Weird.

Since moving Christina and I have had no internet. And, interestingly enough, it’s been amazing. We are already spending more time together. Usually, in the evenings after a day at work Christina would just want to relax and watch TV which would mean that I would head over to the computer and play settlers because, damn, you know I can’t handle the Bachelorette. Those would be our evenings. TV. Internet. No actual meaningful interaction. But tonight was different. Christina came home from a day of work and since we don’t have cable, and we don’t have the internet, we sat down and had a real meal with each other. Then we went for a lovely walk down to Queen’s Park where there was an international drum festival on. We hung out in a park with a bunch of hippies for a while. Then we headed westward and continued on our walk around our new digs. Now, she’s watching an episode of Lost (we rented season 1, amazing), and I’m down at Starbucks checking the email and facebook. You know how it is.

See, that’s the sweet thing. We have 2 hours of free internet a day down at Starbucks. This means if we ever do need to check the internet every few days or so, we can run down here and do it for free.

So that’s that. If  you want a better relationship with people, a better actual relationship with people, and not just a romantic relationship, any kind of relationship, then take some time away from the screen. Because the interent hasn’t always been around, you know that right?

Arrived.

We’ve arrived! I remember a couple months ago when we found out we got an apartment @ Yonge/Charles in Toronto. Now, it’s the day after and I’m sitting in a coffee shop across the road using their free internet. Yesterday was the big move. Shout outs and thanks to Nathan, Matt, Ryan, Katelyn and our parents for picking up trucks and helping us move. The day went super smooth, besides getting a parking ticket, dang city. Thankfully, most of our getting around will be by self-propulsion (i.e. walking and biking). Our neighbourhood is sweet. Just south of Bloor on Yonge, everything is right there and there is loads of people which is cool. We just have a small 1 bdrm and I’ll put some pictures up when we get our internet sorted out. Another bonus about our place, about a 10 minute walk to my college, nice! Anyways, just a little shout to let you know we’ve arrived. Now I’m going to hop on my bike and head down to MEC. PEACE!

Why won’t you just die (Christendom that is)?

So much of Christendom (note: Christendom, not Christianty, although some may be true of the latter as well) pisses me off. So much shit. How much time and money is spent to “further the kingdom”? And by “further the kingdom” I mean pay the salary of a bunch of pastors, build massive buildings and deck said buildings out in high tech gear. Damn, when are we going to learn that fancy buildings can’t save anyone?

Hmm…

There’s just something about this line of thought that doesn’t sit right with me.

I find this to be an excellent response.

As you browse through the list of council members, do you notice that most of them share some commonalities? One of the commonalities that I see is that every one is seated in a position of power and wealth. Should that throw up any red flags when we hear them discussing the poor? My gut reaction would be yes. But that’s just me.

What are your thoughts?

Grace and peace.

On how I deny the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

The following is a snippet from Peter Rollins, a Philosopher/Follower from Belfast, Northern Ireland.

“Without equivocation or hesitation I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think…

I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system.

However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.”

This sort of goes along with how I often feel about myself, in that I am a practical athiest. I may believe one thing or another, but often as far as practice goes, I don’t truly believe.

Some Sabbath reflections and other things.

I really like the idea/purpose/meaning behind observing the Sabbath and after reading/hearing Marva Dawn speak on the practice Christina and I have decided we want to commit to doing this ancient practice for many reasons, not least of which being it’s a good way to unplug from the ways of the empire and think about/do more important things, like resting, spending time with others and things like that.

Yesterday I read a wee bit more of Tom Wrights, Evil and the Justice of God. Here are some things that stuck out to me:

1) The overall sort of theme that Creation is good and not evil and worth redeeming (worth it to the Creator who seems to have much invested in His creation, at least enough that He would die for it) as opposed to being destroyed is a Biblical theme that gives me much hope. Many (Christian) folk believe that the world is wicked and evil and will one day be destroyed by God, the same God, no less, who created it all in the first place. However, when you zoom out a bit and try to take a look at the broader narrative of scripture (and God’s action in the history of the universe in general) I think you will see that it’s hard to reconcile this idea of God destroying and starting over with the fact that God died to save Creation. That would seem to me at least, to render Christ’s death and resurrection as seemingly empty and meaningless. No?

2) The Gospel’s tell many stories, not the least of which is the story of “God’s long-term plan from Abraham through to the time of Jesus…finally [coming]to fruition,” (Wright, 83). However, the fruition of this plan is obviously not yet fully realized, yet it is as good as done.

3) Much of modern Evangelicalism seems to hold that God’s Kingdom is about holiness and, therefore, detachment from evil (I would generally not accept this latter premise). However, this doesn’t seem to take into account Jesus’ all too often fellowship with sinners and dirty folk. I wonder if Christian folk that feel the need to detach from ‘evil’ to be holy ever stop to suspect that evil people “could be, and were being [and are being], redeemed and rescued,” (Wright, 84). Along that line of thought, Wright touches on something that has always bothered me about Christian subculture, that being the great divide between what is clean/unclean, sacred/doomed, Christian/secular, good/evil. Not that there isn’t a distinction to be made, I think there is, it’s just that all to often I think that Christian’s draw that line between “us and them” as opposed to seeing that line running right down the middle of each and every person, Christian or not.

4) “What the Gospels offer is not a philosophical explanation of evil, what it is or why it’s there, nor a set of suggestions for how we might adjust our lifestyles so that evil will mysteriously disappear from the world, but the story of an event in which the living God deals with it,” (Wright, 93).

In respect to this quote I’ve always found hope in the finality of what occured in Christ’s death and resurrection. There was nothing to be done that was left undone. “It is finished.” All of Creation that was/is under the curse of sin and death has been rescued and redeemed and has ultimately been made right. Now this of course isn’t always obvious and although there is still much to be worked out, ultimately, what has been done has been done and God has accomplished victory over the powers of sin and death. Life now reigns. Abundant life, for all. I suppose this is, by and large, what leads me to believe that the Cross effects all of creation, not just a small percentage that are able to recognize and “accept”.

5) “The call of the gospel is for the church to implement the victory of God in the world through suffering love. The cross is not just an example to be followed; it is an achievement to be worked out, put into practice…What if, someone will ask, the people who now bear the solution become themselves part of the problem, as happened before [with Israel]? Yes, that is a problem and it must be addressed. The church is never more in danger than when it sees itself simply as the solution-bearer and forgets that every day it too must say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner,” and allow that confession to work its way into genuine humility even as it stands boldly before the world and its crazy empires. In particular, it is a problem if and when a “Christian” empire seeks to impose its will dualistically on the world by labeling other parts of the world “evil” while seeing itself as the avenging army of God. That is more or less exactly what Jesus found in the Israel of his day. The cross was and remains a call to a different vocation, a new way of dealing with evil and ultimately a new vision of God,” (Wright, 98-99, emphasis mine).

I suppose that’s enough typing for now. In less than a month from now Christina and I will be in our new apartment smack dab in the middle of downtown Toronto. Needless to say we’re very excited about this change of scenery/pace. There’s much to do in the next few months in terms of moving, finding employment and getting ready for the beginning of my back-to-school adventure this September. Please, if you think of us, keep us in your prayers as we make these transitions.

Also, there are two places in particular that I’m excited about hanging out at on a regular basis once we move to the city. These are places that strike me as open to the Gospel yet more often than not, are cast by the way side by much of Christendom. So that is something else you could be praying about for us.

Peace!